In recent years, the number of mobile terminals, for example, laptop computers, digital cellular phones and personal digital assistants (“PDAs”) connected to the Internet has increased dramatically. Together with the increasing number of intelligent mobile terminals has come increased interest in the delivery of IP data and services to such devices. There are, however, certain problems when attempting to deliver IP data to mobile terminals. One problem relates to the current techniques used to assign IP addresses to mobile terminals. More specifically, the current IP address assignment procedure cannot determine whether or not a mobile terminal has roamed into a new domain. As a result, the current address assignment procedure requires that a mobile terminal must change its IP address every time it registers to a new access point (“AP”). In that a new IP address must be generated for a mobile terminal even if it has remained in the same IP domain, the aforementioned procedure represents an inefficient use of signaling resources. Furthermore, the need to repeatedly acquire new IP addresses results in increased power consumption by the mobile terminal. In turn, the increased power consumption will lead to shorter battery lifetimes and service access times for the mobile terminal. It is, therefore, the object of this invention to enhance the efficiency of the process by which an IP address is assigned to a mobile terminal.